Team Korea in upbeat mood despite inconvenience

“(Son) Heung-min was so happy that he ended up dancing.”

The mood couldn’t be better at the Korean national soccer team, which is participating in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup championship in Australia. This situation was unthinkable until as recently as 10 days ago. Team Korea, which beat Uzbekistan 2-0 in Thursday’s quarterfinal match, pumped up music volume and danced together to celebrate victory in the locker room at the stadium. In the bus on the way to their lodging facility, players were all smiles.

After winning 2-0 in an exhibition match against Saudi Arabia on January 4, Korea has achieved a five-game winning streak without allowing even a single goal. It is the first time in 25 years since 1990 that Korea has had five consecutive wins without allowing any single lost point.

The team is full of confidence. Kim Jin-su said, “We have prepared for the event, believing that we will prevail. I never thought of losing the match. All players enjoy our win after the match.” Lee Keun-ho also said while smiling, “After winning the match against Australia 1-0, we gained strong confidence. Now, we are even advising each other not to be complacent." An official with Team Korea also said, “Players are in so upbeat mood that we even think it would be nonsense if we don’t win the championship title. Players are displaying solid confidence in every single move.”

The team already experienced a rite of exorcism ahead of the semifinal match. The team left Melbourne airport to head for Sydney at 11 a.m. on Friday. However, as the landing gear of the airplane was not pulled in, the flight flew around skies over the airport for 40 minutes before returning to Melbourne airport. The plane was replaced with another one, but the team had to wait more than an hour at the airport. Using the substitute plane, the team arrived at Sydney airport at 2:30 p.m., some two hours behind the original schedule.

Players could have easily gotten annoyed due to long hours of journey, but they looked leisurely nonetheless. Kwak Tae-hwi said, “I think this unexpected incident is a sign of something good to come for us.” Park Joo-ho (Mainz) also said, “All players are trying to think positively.” Under the rules for the championship, yellow card warnings that players were given during the group round get nullified if the team advances to the semifinals, and hence Nam Tae-hee, Kim Chang-soo, Cha Du-ri, Jang Hyun-soo, and Han Kyo-won will be able to play the semifinal match without the need to worry about accumulation of warnings, which also helped boost the team’s morale. They were all given one yellow card warning each in the qualifying league. However, Ki Sung-yong and Kwak Tae-hwi, who were given yellow cards in the quarterfinal match, will get disqualified to play in the final if they are given a yellow card in the semifinal.

Training scheduled on Friday afternoon was cancelled due to flight delays. Coach Uli Stielike and assistant coach Shin Tae-yong prepared for the semi-final match, watching the Iraq-Iran game in Canberra on the day.